Rollover crash kills Cazadero man, badly injures woman

A 35-year-old Cazadero man was killed near his home and his girlfriend badly injured when a pickup they were in rolled down a steep embankment and landed on its roof Friday night, emergency personnel said.

Seth Hellenthal died not far from his family vineyard at the end of Bohan Dillon Road, where the slopes are planted in pinot noir grapes farmed by the Hellenthal family.

The wreck was not discovered until around 11 a.m. Saturday just across the road from Hellenthal Vineyards, Redcom dispatcher Dave Bertrand said. Hellenthal's father called in the crash, dispatchers said.

“Great expectations were missed, because he was a great kid,” Gard Hellenthal said of his son late Saturday.

The CHP said Seth Hellenthal's 1997 Dodge Ram 2500 plummeted 465 feet, tumbling off the west edge of Bohan Dillon Road at a point where the dead-end lane is narrow and unpaved.

The road winds past farms, vineyards and wineries on one side, and “just a sheer drop, like hundreds of feet” on the other, CHP Officer Will Brown said.

It was unclear what caused the vehicle to leave the road. It was rainy and foggy out when the crash occurred, about 9:30 p.m., according to the CHP. Brown said there were no obvious signs that the driver was impaired.

The passenger, Kate Wilmore, 29, also of Cazadero, suffered a compound leg fracture, but somehow managed to crawl out of the vehicle and climb up the embankment, dispatchers said.

“She laid down in the road way and waited for help to come, which didn't come until 11 this morning,” Brown said. Investigators had yet to interview her, he said.

Gard Hellenthal said she was in surgery Saturday night, but he thought she would be all right.

“She was in pretty rough shape when we first saw her,” he said.

Timber Cove and Fort Ross firefighters responded to the crash. Wilmore was flown to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital by the Sonoma County sheriff's helicopter, dispatchers said.

Hellenthal Vineyards is a family-run business that included Seth, his father, mother Lori Hellenthal and sister Elisa Hellenthal.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.

Editor's note: A previous version of this story misidentified the passenger in the wreck. The story has been updated.